diff --git a/.github/workflows/GnuTests.yml b/.github/workflows/GnuTests.yml
index f7d3b48821e..deb9ce8dcfa 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/GnuTests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/GnuTests.yml
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ env:
 jobs:
   native:
     name: Run GNU tests (native)
-    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
+    runs-on: ubuntu-26.04 # some strace? test needs newer glibc to run
     steps:
     #### Get the code
     - name: Checkout code (uutils)
@@ -61,9 +61,6 @@ jobs:
         sudo apt-get update
         ## Check that build-gnu.sh works on the non SELinux system by installing libselinux only on lima
         sudo apt-get install -y gperf gdb python3-pyinotify valgrind libexpect-perl libacl1-dev libattr1-dev libcap-dev attr quilt
-        curl --fail --location --silent --show-error --retry 3 --retry-all-errors -o automake_1.18.1-3_all.deb https://sylvestre.ledru.info/debian/automake-1.18.deb
-        echo "0c6a249892120518ab7bb0711396dc8cd26f15ed4118d0b222ba3cd7368eb248  automake_1.18.1-3_all.deb" | sha256sum --check --strict -
-        sudo dpkg -i --force-depends automake_1.18.1-3_all.deb
     - name: Add various locales
       shell: bash
       run: |
diff --git a/util/build-gnu.sh b/util/build-gnu.sh
index 7d5e2e86bc2..bb2448b28bf 100755
--- a/util/build-gnu.sh
+++ b/util/build-gnu.sh
@@ -122,6 +122,7 @@ if test -f gnu-built; then
     echo "'rm -f $(pwd)/{gnu-built,src/getlimits}' to force the build"
     echo "Note: the customization of the tests will still happen"
 else
+    autoreconf
     # Disable useless checks
     sed -i 's|check-texinfo: $(syntax_checks)|check-texinfo:|' doc/local.mk
     # Stop manpage generation for cleaner log
diff --git a/util/fetch-gnu.sh b/util/fetch-gnu.sh
index 41b9a49b4be..543958765ad 100755
--- a/util/fetch-gnu.sh
+++ b/util/fetch-gnu.sh
@@ -1,17 +1,11 @@
 #!/bin/bash -e
-ver="9.11"
+ver="9.12"
 repo=https://github.com/coreutils/coreutils
 curl -L "${repo}/releases/download/v${ver}/coreutils-${ver}.tar.xz" | tar --strip-components=1 -xJf -
 
 # TODO stop backporting tests from master at GNU coreutils > $ver
+exit 0 # remove me when backport
 backport=(
-  cat/splice.sh # split tests
-  dd/fail-ftruncate-fstat.sh # remove LD_PRELOAD
-  dd/stderr.sh # replace GNU/test binary by uutils/test
-  misc/close-stdout.sh # fix hardcoded pathes to GNU executables
-  misc/uname-labeled.sh # uname -A/--all-labeled, added after $ver
-  nproc/nproc-quota.sh # remove LD_PRELOAD
-  misc/empty-backup-suffix.sh
 )
 for f in "${backport[@]}"
   do curl -L ${repo}/raw/refs/heads/master/tests/$f > tests/$f
diff --git a/util/gnu-patches/series b/util/gnu-patches/series
index f9b7fd8262e..c85645bc58b 100644
--- a/util/gnu-patches/series
+++ b/util/gnu-patches/series
@@ -1,14 +1,14 @@
 tests_factor_factor.pl.patch
 tests_cksum_base64.patch
-tests_comm.pl.patch
+# FIXME: tests_comm.pl.patch
 # FIXME: tests_cut_error_msg.patch
 tests_dup_source.patch
-tests_env_env-S.pl.patch
+# FIXME: tests_env_env-S.pl.patch
 tests_invalid_opt.patch
-tests_ls_no_cap.patch
+# FIXME: tests_ls_no_cap.patch
 tests_sort_merge.pl.patch
 tests_du_move_dir_while_traversing.patch
 test_mkdir_restorecon.patch
-error_msg_uniq.diff
+# FIXME: error_msg_uniq.diff
 tests_numfmt.patch
-tests_pwd-long.patch
+# FIXME: tests_pwd-long.patch